Gettin’ Better

Well, last week was pretty tough! We decided to go and look at the animal shelter for another dog. The plan was to get another large outside dog as a companion for our Mastiff. The reality was that we came back home with a Bichon Frise! Hello, total 180 degree turn there. Anyway, here are some before and after pics of “Rickey”, now re-named Theodore, or “Teddy”, as we call him:

Teddy after his Groom

As you can see, Teddy cleaned up quite nicely! He is a tiny bit scared, but getting better everyday. He is getting pretty good at housetraining, and he and Fran are best friends. We are glad to have found him!

In farm news, Jason did a great job of making some new veggie beds right in front of the house. We are doing something called French Intensive beds, which is essentially a raised bed with no sides, a lot of compost on top, and plants will be packed in closely to help battle weeds and retain moisture. I do have pictures, but they are out in the car and we’re under a winter storm warning and it’s just toooooo cold to go out right now! Lol. Jason planted about 100 onions or so. In the coming up weeks, we will be planting spinach, peas, taters, asparagus, cauliflower, cabbage, and carrots. It’s very exciting. I hope that I inspire at least one person to try and grow some of their own food! It is really scary to find out where your food comes from. Homegrown food is SO worth the effort!

Also, in other exciting news, we got 3 peach trees, 2 plum trees, a pomegranate bush, and blackberry vines. I am brand new to the world of orchards and fruit production, but hey, we all have to start somewhere. I am trying to ‘plant by the Moon’, that is, plant my plants during zodiac favorable days. Sound nutty? Well, Jason and I both had grandfathers who did it and they always had a great garden, so why not? You too, can find out favorable days by going to the Farmer’s Almanac website. There are even favorable days for digging holes and weaning your kids! Anyway, so far, so good on that.

Well, I do promise pics on how everything’s coming really soon.

Favorite thing of the day: CitraSolv cleaner

Made from concentrated oils in the rind of citrus fruits. It comes as a concentrate or as a premixed formula. It is much cheaper as the concentrate, though. I use this for wiping down kitchen counters, cleaning floors and pet cages, and well….just about everything but cleaning glass. If you love the smell of oranges, you will LOVE this stuff. I buy it at Break N Bread here in town. That is a natural food store. You can also get it direct from CitraSolv’s website. It contains the citrus oils, surfactants and that’s about it. I like using it because it seems like a very natural, no-frills cleaner that really works. Try it sometime!